{"id":348946,"date":"2026-09-17T03:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T03:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/348946\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T03:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T03:27:09","slug":"inside-pete-alonsos-citi-field-takeover-how-an-oriole-flipped-mets-fans-in-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/348946\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Pete Alonso\u2019s Citi Field takeover: How an Oriole flipped Mets fans in Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

QUEENS, NY \u2014\u00a0While he will never admit it, Pete Alonso had to feel vindicated after the three-game pit stop in his old stomping grounds.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The Baltimore Orioles slugger terrorized his former team, launching his second home run in as many games \u2014 career round-tripper No. 301 \u2014 in the first inning of Wednesday night\u2019s 7-1 beatdown of the New York Mets at Citi Field to complete a sweep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As had been the case all week, Mets fans did not hesitate to voice their boisterous support of Alonso, with every clap, cheer, and chant carrying extra vitriol for president of baseball operations David Stearns, who did not extend a formal contract offer to the 31-year-old last winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Apparently concerned about the drop-off in the latter stages of a longer-term deal, Stearns allowed his franchise\u2019s all-time home run king to walk to Baltimore on a five-year, $155 million deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s only Year 1 of 5, but the Polar Bear\u2019s bat certainly could have helped the Mets this season. His first-inning moonshot off Xzavion Curry on Wednesday night was his 37th home run of the season and his AL-leading 102nd run batted in \u2014 a behemoth of a curtain call to Tuesday night\u2019s dramatic game-tying home run in the top of the ninth inning to send the game to extras.\u00a0Alonso\u2019s 301 career home runs are the third-most through a player\u2019s first eight seasons in MLB history, trailing only Ralph Kiner (329) and Albert Pujols (319).\u00a0<\/p>\n

And if you weren\u2019t looking, you would think that those last two home runs came with him wearing a Mets uniform.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The Flushing faithful gave him a standing ovation at every turn, coaxed him to take multiple curtain calls (including after his game-tying homer on Tuesday), and followed most \u201cPete Alonso\u201d chants with those of \u201cFire Stearns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, beyond thankful for all the support,\u201d Alonso, whose Orioles are now 2.5 games back of an AL Wild Card spot, said following Wednesday\u2019s win. \u201cIt was really fun to play. I know guys in the clubhouse; we all enjoyed it. It was a great road trip for us\u2026 We\u2019ve got some really important ball coming down the stretch here, and hopefully we can play our best baseball to finish off the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeteSep 14, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; Baltimore Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso (25) acknowledges the fans during his video tribute before a game against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Obviously, the atmosphere would be different if the Mets were in the thick of a postseason hunt, but they were eliminated with Monday night\u2019s loss, and the fan base of a team that is 69-83<\/a> is going to let management hear their displeasure. This week just so happened to provide the perfect stage for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, it began to rub Mets players the wrong way. Francisco Lindor was perturbed that fans booed Jonah Tong after he walked Alonso in the third inning on Monday night. Sean Manaea called the continued adoration for the slugger \u201ccrazy\u201d after his start on Tuesday. AJ Ewing told amNewYork on Wednesday that \u201cit would have been nice to see some of our guys get some good recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think unique is the right word,\u201d interim manager Andy Green said. \u201cBeen here for three months in this seat at this point in time. Frankly, I was amazed, impressed, and thankful for the fan engagement over the last couple months, especially since the trade deadline, and we\u2019ve been winning baseball games\u2026 the fan base has embraced this group and done so at a time when we didn\u2019t take them on a journey to a place they wanted to go when the season started\u2026 We didn\u2019t give them that moment. Still, they showed up.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026So it did feel a little bit like a flip to see them embrace Pete at the level they\u2019ve chosen to, which is totally understandable as well. But unique is a fair descriptor of the last couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it felt like the deck was stacked against the Mets from the jump. Before first pitch on Monday\u2019s series opener, a two-minute tribute video was played for Alonso, who got the first of two standing ovations just minutes apart \u2014 the second coming in his first at-bat. Citi Field played his walk-up music when he stepped to the plate, all too happy to oblige in the festivities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It almost seemed like everyone at Citi Field outside of the Mets dugout was trying to prove that they disagreed with Stearns\u2019 call, which is an exaggeration, but not by much. Even owner Steve Cohen was on the field on Monday evening to shake hands with his former star.<\/p>\n

Stearns, however, was nowhere to be seen all series, though he has made himself scarce around Citi Field this season. Alonso admitted that he had not heard from his former POBO this week.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t heard from David this series,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cBut I saw everyone I know. People are in and out of town all the time. But for me to see all my former teammates, there\u2019s a lot of excellent relationships I have. Even outside the players: Coaches, staff, clubbies, all the way down to cooks in the kitchen, parking, security. Because there\u2019s so much life lived here, there\u2019s a lot of really good people I was able to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on Pete Alonso and the Mets, visit AMNY.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"QUEENS, NY \u2014\u00a0While he will never admit it, Pete Alonso had to feel vindicated after the three-game pit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2032,20,9,24,63,5419,122,124,123,319],"class_list":["post-348946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pete-alonso","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}